thumb|No. 10 Opinel knife with carbon steel blade, Virobloc twistlock, and beechwood handle

thumb|Functions of the Opinel Knife: unfolding and locking the blade

Opinel is a French manufacturer of pocket or pen knives. The company has made its line of eponymous wooden-handled knives since 1890 from its headquarters in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie. The company sells approximately 15 million knives annually. Opinel knives are made of both high carbon and stainless steel, the latter being Sandvik steel from Sweden.

Originally sold as a working man's knife, an Opinel knife has become emblematic of French culture. Pablo Picasso is said to have used one of the company's knives as a sculpting tool. It proved popular with the local farmers, herdsmen, and paysans-vignerons (peasant winemakers) of the area. By 1909, Opinel had registered his first trademark for the Opinel knife, choosing the main couronnée ("crowned hand") as his emblem. Custom Opinel models are available using luxurious or exotic handle woods such as oak, walnut, olive wood, bubinga (African rosewood), ebony and stained hornbeam, as well as other materials such as cowhorn.

The Opinel Slim Effilé series uses a tapered handle with a slender clip point blade made of Sandvik stainless steel, and the handle may be obtained in a variety of different materials, including bubinga, olive, ebony and cowhorn.

thumb|Opinel No 8 Blond Horn Handle knife

Construction

thumb|The locking ring is twisted to secure the blade in position

thumb|The same knife with locking ring released in order to close the blade

thumb|right|An Opinel Pruning Knife

The current Opinel knife consists of a blade, wooden handle, stainless steel metal clamping band, stainless pivot pin (axle), and (except in the case of the smaller models) a stainless steel Virobloc locking collar, which locks the blade open or closed.

Smaller Opinel models (Nos. 2 through 5) have no locking blade mechanism, and use only the friction of the clamping band against the compressed handle and knife tang to hold the blade open, much the same as all Opinel knives sold before 1955. This simple design was sometimes known as a "penny knife" or "peasant's knife".

The locking collar (Virobloc) was patented in 1955 by Marcel Opinel, and is only found on the larger Opinel models (#6 and up). Due to the way in which the locking collar tapers, the blade does not loosen over time and can be fixed firmly even once the mechanism is quite worn. In 2000 the locking collar was modified slightly to allow the blade to be locked in the closed as well as the open position.

Eighty percent of all Opinel knives use traditional beechwood for the handle. (more commonly described as a drop point with a blade slightly angled downwards from the handle centerline), while the flared butt at the base of the wood handle is referred to as a fishtail. The modern No. 8 knife consists of five pieces (formerly four); the handle, the blade, the pivot or axle, the metal collar and the locking ring or "Virobloc". The blade is quite thin, only 1.68mm (.066 inches), which helps keep its weight to only 45g (1.6 ounces). Original Opinels and the smallest sizes today are still made of only four parts, lacking the simple Virobloc locking mechanism. The locking ring can easily be removed with simple tools for use in countries where locking knives are prohibited; some sources claim that opening the blade with the ring in the locked position causes the ring to pop off; it can be replaced easily later if desired. The No. 8 Couteau du Jardin or Garden Knife uses a folding drop-point blade with a slim, tapered wood handle, while the Opinel No. 8 and No. 10 Pruning Knives, designed for pruning shrubs and vines, feature a large folding hawkbill blade fitted to an elegantly curved wooden handle. The Opinel Slim Effile series use a thinner-profile stainless steel blade fitted to a tapered wood handle. Available in several sizes and handle materials, the Slim Effile knives are intended for tasks such as cleaning and fileting fish and thinly slicing meats and cheeses.

thumb|Coup du savoyard: No. 8 Opinel knife rapped on table for easier opening

The traditional Opinel is designed to be opened with two hands, and a nail nick is provided on the blade. It is possible to adjust the fitting of the safety locking collar if it is too tight or too loose. With its tiny 2 cm (0.787-inch) blade and boxwood handle, it was meant to be attached to a key fob or watch chain and used as a tobacco pipe cleaner or nail cleaner,

See also

  • Laguiole knife
  • Douk-Douk
  • Knife legislation

References

  • Official website